save me! shooting star!
by animecat121
Summary: after kieko accidentally eats the all important crystal pearl it's up to zero and Ichii to defend there newly found friend, and protect her from examines who would go out of there way to hurt her! find out what happens next!
1. the princes that fell from the sky

"please,please,please!" Hoshi said holding the bag of candy with her red hair put up in pigtails,and her banges almost covering her sparkly green eyes. Kieko peered in looking at all the candies and thought to herself "well she is the candy queen, what harm can it do?she's only 9" "fine"she said,grabbing the bag and going up to the counter,she grabbed her money from her purse, and slapped the money on the counter elderly shop keeper looked up with a goofy smile"is that all?", "yeah"she said,shopkeeper admired her brown hair that was put in an up do appropriate for any rock star, her emerald eyes sparkled like gems,she looked about 14 years old,still in eighth grade "alright then, heres your change" *on the walk home.* " wow,this is so good Kieko,you should try it!" yelled hoshi "you know i'm not much for sweets" replied kieko."yeah,i know,but you bought it,so you haf to."said Hoshi."fine,if i have to i guess ill try a lollipop.","sorry,i didn't get any" "then give me the bag and let me find something." just then a pink crystal fell into the bag of goodies,kieko sticking her hand blindly into the bag ,found hold of the crystal,and pulled it out."this looks decent"then she popped it in her mouth, kieko made a face."what's wrong?" asked Hoshi "i thought candy was sweet" said kieko."not all the time, they have sweet, sour, tart..." "yeah but this is different it has no flavor."kieko replied."weird ,must be a dud"Hoshi answered just then a giant crowd of people came flying down fast,like a hawk they swooped down at the two,by instinct kieko swallowed the gem and shielded hoshi,then two of the people that were in the crowd yelled "look out" then jumped in front of the crowd. one yelled "destruction magic"and a burst of blue light and fire burst from his hands,the other yelled "shield" and a burst of black and purple light burst from his hands."what the hell!?"cried kieko then Hoshi started to cry and yell this was too intense for a girl her age, the swarm flew back towards them and the two boys repeated their last steps and light filled the sky the mob started to fly away the two boys turned revealing a boy with blue hair, and blue eyes, he wore a sky blue pullover jacket that looked like some type of turtle neck, he also wore a pair of goggles over his head like a girl wears a headband and a slightly taller boy with brown hair , hazel eyes,and wore a dark blue t-shirt, that was mostly covered by his red button up,and dog tag that lay sprawled across his chest. kieko now hugging and consulting Hoshi,was tense,ready for battle but exhausted all at the same time."hey,are you ok?"said the blue haired boy, but kieko ignored him and continued to consult Hoshi. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!"the boy screamed."Hoshi, i want you to run home,away from here,i'll take care of them"kieko said "kay"and the little girl ran as fast as her stocky little legs would carry her."what the hell do you want"kieko yelled,she held her hands in a fist and glared at them. she was mad,she was ready to defend hoshi at any expense "i apologize,my friend can get a little hot headed,he's just being a bit selfish,is your friend ok?"said the brown haired boy."anyway i'm Ichi and i see you've met my friend Zero, have you seen a pink gem by any chance?"asked Ichi holding up a less than practical picture of the gem,"why?"you thieves?"kieko asked defensively."HEY! were no more thug than you are smart"said zero,kieko ignored the comment,"well?" "as you can see we are nothing more than examinees."said Ichi. "what does that mean?","we are wizards,we are taking the wizard exam,we are in search of the crystal pearl,the pink gem we mentioned earlier?"."well,if you want to play make believe go ahead, but the only thing that seems relatable to what you described as the crystal pearl is the candy i ate earlier,if it helps it tasted bad so you might not want to buy any" zero glared at her and took out a cell phone looking device,then it started to beep"its close,its close". just then a sea horse looking creacher popped up and said"i can sense it's presence within her"."what did you do with it?"zero demanded "I swallowed it when the other so called wizards flew down at hoshi and me"."YOU DID WHAT!?" yelled zero the boy began frantically shaking her and shouting"HOW COULD YOU!"kieko let her defensive side kick in and head butted the boy, as he stumbled back she roundhouse kicked him in the stomach he fell head first into the concrete, Ichi walked over to him and tried to wake him up,but he just kept mumbling "the jewel, the jewel"kieko saw this opportunity to run, slowly she backed away from them, then he turned around and dashed around the corner. she got out her cell phone and dialed hoshi's home number, a male voice picked up the phone"kieko is that you?"it said "yes, did hoshi make it home safe?" she asked fanatically "yes, but she's crying so much i can't make out what she is saying, what happened?"asked the voice concernedly. but just as she was about to answer a large owl carrying a young girl kieko couldn't help but stare at her,she had long dark blue hair with bangs in the front along with dark blue eyes, with a pink hair band in her hair with two pink bows at both sides of her head and a purple dress with white frills and a little pink bow on her chest. She wore white stockings with black Mary Jane like shoes. She carried a gold colored staff with a gold and blue color wheel shaped top,next to her sat a boy who wore a brown tux and white hat that completely clashed with his beautiful blonde hair. "our tracker says you have the crystal pearl, i don't know how a human like you got a hold of it,but either give it to us or we can take it"said the boy, kieko could not believe what she was seeing a giant owl, it finally struck her that these people were not playing make believe, they were real wizards,actual sorcerers! keiko stood there in shock, were her eyes deceiving her? was it a dream? this could not be real,it just didn't make sense, none of it did. "hello kieko are you there?" said the man on the phone,"fine i see you want to do this the hard way"said the boy and with that the owl swooped down and grabbed kieko by the arm,still too shocked to resist kieko just stood there, she dropped her phone as she was lifted off the ground. minutes later she was brought to an old abandoned cake factory,the too sweet scent of cake was enough to make her sick,and to make things worse she was tied up,her captors i identified themselves as Forte and son,they were awkward to say the least and very energetic,"geez this girl hasn't said a word since we saw her it's freaking me out son"said forte,"she's probably just shy" said the girl,"what's your name!?"said son in a voice way too loud, "uh...i'm kieko"she said in a voice faint and wavering "may i ...may i ask you something?"kieko said"shoot"said son "is this real?" son then nodded "so your wizards?" the girl nodded again "with powers and everything?"the girl nodded once more "now let me ask you a question,where's the crystal pearl?"said the boy "i swallowed it by accident I've already established that with your friends,.. zero and Ichi was it?",the boy looked at her in disbelief, "one those guys are not my friends,two i can't believe you swallowed it,and three we'll have to extract it by force now" "by force?" kieko said worriedly "well the rules said nothing about humans, so we could easily just end it here" said the girl kieko could not believe her ears "sure, ok"said the boy, he took out a silver flute, while the girl raised her staff from earlier, the girl yelled something kieko couldn't quite make out, but seconds later a hoard of snakes appeared, now kieko isn't necessarily afraid of snakes but in the large mass of snakes was a giant anaconda which violently wrapped itself around her, Forte started to play his flute and with each note he played the anaconda's grip got tighter and tighter, all of kieko breath was being forced out of her she tried to gasp for more but she just couldn't. the anaconda was too strong to fight for air, keiko's sight was starting to blur and around the edges of her vision, everything grew dark,she was starting to get dizzy,she could feel her lungs caving in on themselves,she had one shot at this,if any one was near they would hear this, she gathered all of her remaining strength and did her best to sound out her words,"please help mhhhh..." mid sentence she lost all her strength,she could no longer speak,she was losing conciseness,only seconds before she closed her eyes the two boys from earlier,zero and Ichi burst in,then she closed her eyes it was black,there was nothingness all around her,although she could not see any thing she heard some explosions,and some yelling to go along with it. a few hours later she woke up,she saw stars,she could hear the cicadas in the distance,and she smelled the woods, it was were was she?was she dead? no if she were dead she would not see the beautiful stars,she put her hand up to reach them but they were too far away for her to reach them, if it was a dream she would be able to touch them,so this was real, she kept her hand up just to stare at it, she saw some bruises it took a while but she eventually remembered what happened,she sat up and looked around,she was at a park, and realized what she was laying on, it was one of the pillars they used to divide the sand and the grass, to her right was a cream colored buggy convertible,she looked around and saw the two boys sitting on the swing set, they were watching over her, under any other circumstances she would have found this creepy but just this once she would let it slide,she slowly stood up and walked over to them. she was about 4 feet from them when she started to talk."did you save me?"she whispered,"yes"said ichi in a firm voice "both of you?" zero avoided eye contact clearly mad about earlier kieko then dropped down to her knees, it must have been a bit fast because both of the boys flinched at it,"i'm..so sorry,i didn't mean to be a bother"she hung her head so her face was not visible"i...i am deeply sorry for hurting you zero"her voice was now trembling"i was so mean to you, and still helped me,why,why did you do that?" her whole body was shaking now"thank you"she said and with that a single tear fell to the ground. she now felt a warm hand on her shoulder,she looked up to see it was zero"it's OK" after about 10 minutes of calming down kieko stood up,"can you tell me more about what's going on with this crystal pearl thing?"*one explanation later* "do you have somewhere to stay?"she asked both of the boys shook their heads. "i can offer you a place to stay but first do either of you have a phone i could borrow?"kieko asked,Ichi reached into his pocket and pulled out a black cell phone and handed it to her,"thank you" kieko dialed the same number again, and the same man picked up the phone "Kieko is that you? are you ok? where are you?"the man said kieko had to think for a minute, she knew if she had told him the truth he would not believe her,"yeah it's me,when i was talking to you earlier i was standing in front of a subway opening and was caught in the crowd,one guy bumped me so hard i dropped my phone,but i was so caught up in the traffic that i got pushed in to one of the trains then it left i spent the remainder of the day getting back into town, just now i bumped into a few friends i'm calling from his phone,they'll give me a ride home so don't worry" she explained "thank god "said the man"but what happened before?" how would kieko explain that?"they were shooting a movie, one of the scenes included a robbery,i didn't know it was fake so i told Hoshi to run home but before i could go with her the director asked me to sign a release form" kieko lied, kieko hated lying but she had to reassure him everything was alright."ok,i'm glad you're safe, hoshi made you a care package,she dropped it off at your house, do you need me to bring anything for you?" he said"no i'll be fine, tell hoshi i said good night." and with that kieko hung up the phone "who was that?" asked zero "it was hoshi's dad"kieko then gave the phone back to Ichi, Ichi gave her a concerned look in return,"why did you call him?why not your parents?" kieko slowly turned away from them and looked up at the stars, she gave no answer she then walked up to the car and said "come on lets go" less than two minutes later they reached kiko's house, it was kind of remote in a way, hidden by lots of trees,it was definitely closer to the countryside then the city,but they finally found house,it was slightly large. it was a tan colored house with brown accents it was very well kept,next to the door was a package,kieko picked it up gingerly and unlocked the door went into the living room,kieko set the package down on the table,then walked into the hallway,she showed the two boy there room "this quite a large house where is everyone?zura"asked Zura "miroku is studying abroad in america,and i was just about to let ran in" she said "who's ran?"asked Ichi,and just as he said that kieko opened the back door, a small white cat hopped in blissfully rubbing up on kieko,"a cat?"all three said in unison "you live here alone?with a cat?"asked zero"well...yes" kieko answered vividly zero burst out in laughter "that makes you a lonely cat lady, ha ha"the cat walked over to Ichi and started rubbing on him,Ichi then picked her up and petted her "I like this one,kieko" said the cat all three stared at it in shock "a talking cat, here!?"kieko tilted her head slightly "you can hear her too? i thought i was just going crazy"the cat jumped down from Ichi's arms and pleaded itself into keiko's arms,"the green thing is cute too" "aww,thankyou, zura" ran said she turned her head to zero"but the blue one ,make's kieko unhappy, therefore the blue one is a trespasser, be warned trespasser, if you make kieko unhappy again i'll kill you"ran threatened,"that's some tough talk coming from a cute little kitty like you" said zero teasingly,then he tried to pet her, the cat gave him a death glare while his hand lingered in her face, "do not under estimate me"she said then bit him anime style,then for about fifteen minutes they ran around the house anime style, about half an hour later when everyone was asleep kieko went in to the living room to open the care package " hoshi is just too sweet"kieko said under her breath. as she slowly took out the purple tissue paper, ran jumped in her lap,under all of the tissue paper was a few lollipops and a colored page,the picture was of two princes a tall one with brown hair,and a shorter one with blue hair,they were falling from the sky and looked as if they were going to land in front of two stick figures that looked like kieko and hoshi."Ichi and Zero:the princes who fell from the sky"she thought to herself.


	2. abruptly, may we join you!

running,kieko was running, she had no idea why but she was scared, she couldn't even look to see if she was being chased, kieko never felt this much terror all at once, in her mind all she could think about was running, she had no idea why, but every bone in her body told her to run,who was she to deny her instincts? suddenly she began to run in slow motion, it felt as if she was running through molasses,she was using all of her might but she was barely moving. "not fair,they'll catch me now "she said,"why did i say that?"she thought to herself "who is "they"?" she wondered,foot steps soon became loud and audible in the distance and were approaching fast they were running,running after her she knew this from the bottom of her heart, a cluster of dark shadows crowded around her, she couldn't move, it was to hard,they were about to reach her when a bright light engulfed the surrounding area,then it faded leaving a male figure in it's place, he was shielding her, giving his body for hers,she tried to reach out to the figure but it was too far away despite it only being inches away...kieko suddenly opened her eyes to a loud beeping alarm clock shoved in her face,behind the alarm clock was of course, zero. he was kneeled in on top of her in an awkward position while she laid down, ran of course was making a huge deal of this yelling and clawing at the intruder, but he didn't even flinch,(do you know that feeling when wake up, and for five seconds you don't know where you are,or what's happening? yeah, kieko is having that right now) zero then calmly said "wake up,the alarm has been going off for like ten minutes". without thinking, kieko lifted her knee up really fast and nailed him right in the crotch, as his body fell limp she pushed him on the. ran was absolutely thrilled and was boasting about kieko taking him down. soon zero regained his strength and stood up,"what the hell was that for!?" he yelled, kieko sat neatly on her bed and glared at zero "you scared me" she said firmly and angrily."yeah but you don't have to be so rude about it!"he yelled. kieko's face showed udder frustration "rude?...RUDE?, do you know what rude is? barging in a girls room while she's sleeping THAT'S RUDE!"kieko then took her pillow and through it as hard as she could(and trust me that's hard)at zero,it hit him square in the face he removed the pillow from his face to reveal that it was all red. Ichi then walked in the room " what's going on?"he asked "Ichi help me!"yelled zero "kieko are you ready?"Ichi asked "ready?" kieko echoed "yeah as of today we're going with you to school" "that's right,zura" "you mean zero didn't tell you?"Ichi asked,"I was about to, but then out of no where she started wailing on me!"zero accused "the blue one is stupid"yelled ran"hey,give me a break!" zero cried "leave them alone zero"Ichi pleaded"fine"said the two ran out of kieko's room and out the front door. kieko could hear the sound of the car starting up.*about 10 minutes later* kieko sat staring down at the world below her,it was amazing,she has never been this high before.(and no she's not"high") the air up here is so clear,she loved it. "wow this is amazing!"she stated "being a sorcerer must be so cool"she said in excitement."well we're still in training"Ichi reminded her "and if everything goes as planned, we'll be pros when the test ends" zero stated "even if you don't pass, you two are the coolest guys i know"kieko added. zero gave an udder look of disgust, "you just don't get it do you? it doesn't matter that i'm a wizard if i don't pass this exam"zero stated "thats not what i'm saying,your not cool because your magical, you guys are great because..." kieko was interrupted by a giant owl that swooped down at them, the owl flew about 30 feet from the car and swerved back around."great it's son and forte"Ichi stated, son waved over to them "good morning everyone!"she shouted then forte in scowled at her"focus son,we need to get the crystal pearl today!" forte then pulled out his flute and started to play. kieko then began to hover above the car. "eek!" she shrieked she was then picked up by the owl and was being carried away,zero then stood up "give her back!" he yelled as he blasted the owl with his destruction magic causing kieko to fall out of the owls grip, son then summoned an air fish to finish her off. the large pink fish zoomed over to kieko and was just about to eat kieko when Ichi used his magic to put her in a charm capsule ,the giant fish then bit into the capsule and used all it's force to try and crush it, but to no avail. the two magics colliding with each other with that much energy was so great they both exploded, with the charm capsule no longer there to keep kieko floating kieko started to fall, zero and Ichi flew after her in the car,ichi then tried to grab her hand but she was just barely too far away, "this is no time for me to zone out" kieko thought to herself she then maneuvered herself around from her facing back towards the ground to her face towards the ground, almost like a sky diver trying to go faster kieko then tucked herself in to a ball and spun rapidly, she then landed ninja way she landed caused all the dust around her to fly up like a smoke screen. but now her hair was a mess, her shoes were scuffed and she had dirt all over her hands. "you got away this time but next time you're ours!" screamed forte. "nice landing" Ichi stated "who taught you how to do that?"zero asked "yumi and mika did" she stated *in the locker room* kieko stood next to her locker waiting for the first bell to ring,"hey kieko" said a voice "KIEKO!" said another "mika? yumi? hi" kieko said to the girls,(mika and yumi ars sisters,twins in fact but don't let that fool you they are polar opposites. mika is the younger twin, she is the more tomboy one,but don't get on her bad side she will murder you in your sleep,she is obsessed with american rock bands like green day,all american rejects,and Lincoln park and she loves to do parkour. yumi is the lolita twin, she loves everything cute and fuzzy,but don't let that cutesy girl attitude fool you she has a wrath as bad as mika). "you hair is a mess,and you're all dirty!"yumi exclaimed "what happened kieko?" asked mika, *one explanation later*. "wow seems like you've had a busy two days"yumi said "when i meet the guys who made you fall i'll kill them!"mika said angrily "but first lets go to the bathroom and get you cleaned up"yumi stated *in class* kieko sat at her desk trying to keep consciousness as her teacher babbled on, maybe she could catch up on some sleep."alright class we have two new students, the first thing we need to do is find find them a desk." the teacher stated. with those words kieko's head popped up, "did they seriously transfer in to her class? how is that even possible?" she thought to herself. "if it's all the same i'd like to take this desk here next to kieko" zero said "and i'd like to take this other desk next to kieko"Ichii said. all of the girl gasped at this "are you friends with them"said a voice "are you guys dating?"asked another "what's going on?"who are these new guys?" kieko was being bombarded with questions."i'll tell you what it is,it's love" the teacher stated the whole class went silent,kieko tried to hold it in but she just couldn't, within second kieko was busting with laughter "the whole class started staring at her, eventually they caught on and started giggling. after class kieko started to walk out of the door when Ichi and zero picked her up by her arms and started to carry her so class."what are you doing?"kieko cried."were taking you to class what does it look like we're doing?"zero answered "put me down!"kieko cried "i'm sorry kieko, but this is the only way we can keep a close eye on you"Ichi said "if the lady asked you to put her down you do the gentlemanly thing and put her down"said a voice from behind them. "andrew?" kieko asked in surprise. behind the two boys was a fairly tall boy, he had light brown hair that was gelled back ,(like david tennant) he was a bit tan with dark freckles, he was holding on to Ichi's shoulder and held it firm,several girls followed andrew, they all had a crush on him, it was not hard to tell."excuse me, we were just taking her to class"Ichi said in a sweet tone"put her down"andrew said firmly. zero glared at him, and andrew glared back at him, the two put her down "were these two causing trouble for you kieko?" andrew asked sweetly."no, there cool, just a bit out of place"kieko replied andrew grinned and tousled her hair a bit "oh, by the way, here's your headphones, and your ipod, i put some american songs on there for you"andrew said as he handed them back to her. "thanks for fixing them"kieko said."we should go before the bell rings"said one of the girls obviously jealous of keiko's attention "us too" said zero bitterly, as they started to walk away Ichi asked "who was that?""that was andrew he's an exchange student,I loaned him my ipod and asked if he could download some music that mika might like, i don't know how to get american songs on there, he also offered to fix my headphones while he was at it"kieko answered "what's up with you?" kieko asked zero "I just don't trust that guy is all" he replied "is this because he embarrassed you in public? that's a bit dramatic to to go out and say you don't like him because of that"kieko teased "hey,shut up!"zero said defensively "what did you think of him Ichi?"she asked "I can't go so far as to say i like him,but we could have met under better circumstances" Ichi said*after science*(the boys FINALLY let her walk) kieko walked over to the steps"hey where are you going? class is the other way"zero said "yeah, i know, but it's he sleeps through class and gives everyone an A as long as we don't tell anyone" kieko said "so?"zero asked bitterly "so i was going to the rest room down stairs"she said "what's wrong with the one up here?"he asked angrily. "the water is warmer down there, but if you have a problem fine, i'll go to the upstairs one"kieko said a bit annoyed "what' up with you?" zero asked oblivious to himself."you need to chill out before you talk to me like that"she replied kieko just put her headphones on and turned up the music as loud as it would go she didn't need to listen to listen to his bad attitude "what was his problem?" she thought to herself. once she was in the restroom she was surrounded by girls,all asking about zero and Ichi,"great" she whispered to herself among the crowd was son and forte, kieko tilted her head slightly "you're a girl?"kieko stated,forte figured it was directed at him "i'm not a girl the only reason i'd wear this is to capture you!"he said. all of the girls were completely shocked."a boy!" they all shrieked then proceeded to case him out of the room forte then ran past zero and ichi, and the girls became extremely overwhelmed by the two boys and crowded around them causing the boys to get scared and run. slowly kieko peeked out of the restroom ,son peered behind her with a group of air fish,"wana play?" she said then the fish snapped at her,kieko started to run she had no idea how to defend herself,so she just had to hold off a little while was making a mad dash through the hallway, she missed the stair that went down,the only place for her to go was up, so she did. she had now made it to the roof,where could she go?she made it to the railing and peered over, suddenly zero jumped in front of her"way to go genius i thought i told you to stay close to us"zero teased"you're the one who left me!"kieko shouted"you're such an idiot"he yelled "don't call me an idiot!" she screamed "watch this, idiot, idiot, idiot!"yelled zero"this isn't a good time to argue, zura"yelled zura "hey everyone check out my new fish i have a whole army of them and they can't wait to sink their teeth in to you!"son said. zero then through a fire ball at them and took out half of them,but almost instantly they reappeared. zero kept fighting them but they kept coming back"screw this!" kieko yelled and she jumped over the railing. she carefully positioned herself so she was now running down the side of the building,kieko saw a big crowed that was down below her, and to avoid hurting anyone, kieko pushed off the wall and did a front flip before landing on her feet and continuing to run."funny"she said to herself, "I could have sworn that was Ichi in the middle of that crowed" she thought. a cloud of dust followed her as she ran,making the crowd of girls behind her complain about getting dust on their air fish emerged at keiko's sides and began to snap at her,kieko ran into the locker room,next to the entrance was mika and yumi,kieko felt a rush of relief as the two spotted her,she ran towards them and immediately the girls' aura became dark and shadowy,kieko then ran behind the girls, they started to beat the crap out of the fish (i swear if you saw this you'd cringe) yumi kneed one of the fish in the face, mika then punched one in the eye, then the two proceeded to beat the fish in a comedic fashion until a little spirit came out of them.(like in most animes) Ichi and zero finally made their way to the three and started to blast away the remaining air fish, Ichi stared at the several passed out fish on the floor,"how did you do that?" Ichi asked concernedly, "if you mess with our kieko you'll find out"mika said as scarily as possible both of the boys had a large bead of sweat roll down their cheek"who are you two?" zero asked "i'm yumi and that's mika"yumi informed"sup?"mika stated "we're kieko's best friends!"yumi yelled, "why did you jump off the building? i had it under control!" zero yelled "all i saw was you getting hurt, i thought that if i got far enough away that she'd leave you alone, and don't complain about me doing something reckless if you're going to worry me"kieko yelled with a slight remained silent, Ichi then looked at kieko "don't worry about us, we can handle ourselves, but you made us worry when you jumped,we thought you got hurt."Ichi explained. kieko blushed and tried to avoid his gaze,"well i'm fine you can stop worrying" she said sounding slightly annoyed. kieko then spotted zero's arm,it was bleeding,but he was trying to hide it, "honestly, if going to try and hide your wounds from me you'll have to do a better job than that, let's go to the nurse"kieko stated zero blushed slightly it was weird having kieko say she was worried,"fine"he said.


	3. kiss? baby? shooting star?

the day started off just like any other, kieko woke up,fed Ran,ate,and was just about to do her daily cleaning when she opened the guest room door. kieko stood completely frozen. suddenly her face turned a light shade of pink,"sumimasen!" she cried (i wii write sorry in Japanese because it sounded better to me) then she slammed the door, and ran into her room, grabbed her pillow and pushed it to her face. kieko tried to make sense of what just happened,kieko had walked into the room and had seen zero and ichi half naked in her guestroom,how awkward she had forgotten all about them and walked in on them! kieko just had to shake it off it was almost time for school. "kieko are you going to school or what?" zero yelled "oh yeah"kieko thought to herself" we decided to walk to school last night after yesterday's encounter" now kieko just felt embarrassed how could she have forgotten about the past two days? kieko sat down and petted Ran for a bit until she was interrupted by zero slamming the door open and yelling "c'mon lets go! we'll be late!"kieko kneeled down beside Ran"good bye"she said lightly then she opend the window for Ran to jump out then closed it. "aren't you ready yet?" zero cried "ok,i'm ready" kieko said then followed zero out the door, kieko couldn't help but feel awkward standing next to the two boys,"oh,well"she thought to herself what could she do but remain silent? talking about it would just make her blush and she'd feel even more awkward,keiko looked at the surrounding area,she knew where this was,this is the park that she usually takes hoshi to play. kieko thoughts were interrupted by crying. kieko looked over her shoulder to see a girl that was no older than 7 sitting on the sidewalk crying and favoring her knee while a group of other girls stood around her."does it hurt?"asked one girl"alot" the girl replied "if we could get you to the nurse she could disinfect it"said another but before she could answer another girl poked her wound making her cry a bit louder. kieko walked up to the group of girls and kneeled by them."what happed?"kieko asked "i tripped over my shoe lace and scraped my knee"the girl wailed. kieko then picked her up and sat her near the water fountain. kieko washed off the blood with the water,"let me see what I've got in my bag" she said kieko then took out a first aid kit, kieko first took out some peroxide and put it on a cotton swab then rubed it on the wound, then kieko got out a bottle of vitamin E and poured a bit on a rag she then dabbed it on her knee,(vitamin E is like a super healer, no joke!) kieko then brought out a tin of band aids which were hello kitty themed"wich one do you want?" kieko asked sweetly. the girl picked a light pink one with hello kitty's face in the middle,kieko then applied it,and looked down "keep your shoes tied or it'll happen again" she teased kieko then tied the girls shoe."you were very brave"kieko praised. kieko went through her backpack and found a booklet of stickers that she used to reward hoshi, kieko picked out a cute little lion holding a flower and stuck it to the girls shirt. the girl stared at it and blushed "it's so cute!" she squealed, she then hugged kieko tightly and yelled out "thank you miss!"at the top of her lunges and skipped away. kieko sighed "that was thoughtful of you"Ichi said kieko was shocked she thought they continued walking without her. " you have a very sweet disposition kieko" he said sweetly "thanks" she said shyly, she blushed a bit and tried to avoid eye contact."let's go! we're going to be late"zero yelled kieko walked up the stairs with they got to school they were immediately surrounded by a large group of girls. the boys were being bombarded with questions of every sort. kieko's eyes dilated and she started to breath fast. kieko could feel her heart beating loudly,kieko did not do well in crowds, to many people at one time was hard for her, she almost started to cry, but soon the girls noticed her and pushed her away from the boys. unfortunately they pushed her so hard that when she was finally out of the crowd she tripped and scraped her elbow and leg on the concrete in front of mika and yumi. mika was furious,she picked up kieko up bridal style. yumi yelled at the top of her lungs "who the hell thinks they can push kieko down in front of me and live?!" all the girls stopped drooling over the boys and stared at mika and yumi in pure horror,yumi just stood there letting her anger build up. "what makes any of you think that you can hurt someone just because they are in your way,can't you see that she hurt because of your recklessness?"mika growled the two boy stared at kieko,"kieko is hurt?we promised to protect her but she got hurt because of us"ichi thought to himself."are you ok kieko?"he asked sincerely kieko hid her face behind her bangs,"mika put me down i'm fine"she said, when mika put her down kieko brushed off the dirt from her skirt,she then bowed to the girls "sumimasen!" she said loudly then walked away, kieko found a nice bench to sit on while she treated her wounds,she was glad she still had that old kit. the boys soon joined er, "i'm sorry that happened"zero said Ichi apoligised too, he then fixed his eyes on the first aid kit,why did she have a first aid kit in the first place? why does she bring it to school? yumi and mika soon made their way over to her as well. "gomen"they both said as they bowed "we didn't mean to embarrass you"yumi stated,but mika was staring at the first aid kit just as Ichi was, but the way she looked at it was more sorrowful, yumi then saw what it was that her sister was looking at, she looked shocked then her faced washed over with sadness,"you still have that old thing?"she tried to say jokingly, but it sounded more sad than anything. "yeah"kieko replied."what's so sad about a stupid medical kit?"zero asked"let's just say it has a bit of history"kieko said *in class* kieko was getting ready for her name to be called in roll call," this morning was just too much, at least i can take a break in class"she thought to herself, and just as she thought that there was an explosion near the door, a tall girl with beautiful pink hair emerged from the smoke"ichi my love!"she shouted she then ran up to him and kissed him on the lips. the whole class stared at them in confusion. then three girls walked up to kieko and yelled"do something about this!" kieko stared at them "why?" the girls looked at her in horror "why? we thought you liked him!"they wined, that was obviously not why they wanted her to make them stop, in the udder confusion yumi and mika ended up switching seats and sitting with kieko. suddenly a man wearing all green popped up in the window all four of them started to talk kieko was not interested, she was too exhausted to care,and slightly dizzy. kieko looked at yumi. "i don't' feel so well"kieko, stated two girls popped up out of nowhere "is it because you're jealous,kieko?"they asked arrogantly"what? no"kieko said,she almost sounded like she was in a bad mood. "is she his girlfriend?"the girls from earlier asked."i wouldn't be surprised if it was" she said bluntly, kieko felt very weak. "not quite i'm his fiance" the girl stated all the girls in the room gasped at this. "thats not true"Go said plainly "I hope not" zero stated, "wow you sure are a ladies man"zura teased "hey both of you shut up" Ichi said angrily "Ichi angry,thats new"kieko thought to herself. rokka then hugged him,"i'm sorry about this kieko"ichi said "why are you sorry?"kieko asked almost angrily "why am i in such a bad mood?"she thought to herself, she must have zoned out for a bit because now rokka was up in kieko's face yelling ."that's it! you better stay away from my man! i don't even know what he sees in your flat chest!"rokka cried. kieko looked stunned, kieko had been called many things before but never flat, sure maybe she wasn't as shapely as her but she was not flat. the twins got a really dark aura around them"why would she want big boobs?"mika asked"they only make you dumber"yumi finished. roka laughed at this "No boobs,no boobs" rokka teased. the twins were about to attack her, when kieko started to glare at her "how immature, you're relying on balls of fat on your chest, do realize that? and why would i care about such a superficial thing?"she growled, kieko was angry. kieko started to tremble,was it because she was angry?ichi could see kieko's discomfort, he thought it was because of rokka but he was wrong."stop this right now i don't want you saying rude things to my friends!"ichi shouted "but ichi she was trying to take you from me!"roka said, kieko was starting to get a headache, kieko zoned out again and regained her focus when Go gave the teacher something,but she couldn't hear what he said. she finally realized what was happening to her, but it was too late to do anything about it,she collapsed within seconds."get her to the nurse!"yumi yelled. zero picked her up and the four ran her to the infirmary. when they all settled in the infirmary mika went through kieko's bag, got out the first aid kit, she took out the instant compress from the box and put it on kieko's head."this is my fault" said yumi "kieko told me she felt bad but i dismissed it as nothing serious" "it's ok"ichi replied "why did she faint?"zero asked "for you to fully understand we'd have to tell you a story from her past,but i don't think you'll want to hear it" mika warned she was absolutely serious."if i can understand her condition more then i'll listen"Ichi said mika sighed"kieko was a loved child,her parents couldn't care for her any more than they did she was always smiling no matter what happened,she smiled most at shrine festivals... have you heard of the sarin subway incident?"mika asked sadly zero and ichi's eyes' grew wide with shock. "no way, she was there?" zero asked "yes, on her way to the shrine kieko boarded Chiyoda Line,when the fumes reached her she stopped breathing, when she woke up again,she was in the intensive care unit of the hospital. soon after the incident kieko began to fall ill easily, she would go weeks on end without talking to anyone but miroku"yumi said sorrowfully "damn i hated that guy, he always set so many standards for kieko,he barely even cared that she was so sick,i'm glad he went to study abroad"mika stated "with the months of on going solitude, kieko soon became socially awkward,so when kieko became well enough to go to school again she was severely bullied because of the way she acted" yumi stated "severely bullied,huh?" ichi whispered "is that why she carried that first aid kit?" he asked, mika nodded her head."that was around the time we met her, we made a promise we'd keep her safe, but now she's involved in some pretty heavy stuff, we can only do so much now... gomen, i got off topic, anyway even though the bullying stopped she still showed signs of it, thats why she freaked out from all the people,"yumi said"it helps her when she listens to music"mika informed "but even still, she continued to get ill, so yumi and I decided to investigate,we needed to know what was making her sick so we could keep her safe from it,we soon learned that the subway incident caused her brain to react very oddly,the chemicals she was exposed to made kieko sensitive to certain things, for the most part we know that the chemicals in that the janitor used to clean the floor was one of the things that made her pass out,we were then able to convince the school board to use less strong chemicals,however,what ever made kieko faint today is unclear,it could have been anything from the chemicals in the drywall to your friend's perfume, this may be much to ask but... could you ask your her to use a less strong fragrance?" mika asked,ichi nodded in response,"but the worst part of this is that her..."mika was cut off by kieko coughing, she then sat up and looked over at the four,mika brought her a glass of water. after a long talk kieko managed to convince them that she was well enough to go to class. as they walked out of the nurse's office,Ichi grabbed her hand to hold kieko back,kieko looked back at him."i got you something"he said sweetly as he pulled a charm bracelet out from his pocket, it had a dull silver moon,two matching silver star charms and kieko's favorite;a multi colored shooting star charm "thank you" she said cheerfully, she gave him her best smile as she put the bracelet on. Ichi blushed at this,never had he seen a smile so genuine and sweet.*in the changing rooms*"hurry up kieko"mika cried "go on without me i'll be a bit late!"kieko shouted yumi and mika then hussled to the gym. kieko finished lacing up her shoes and stood up,without notice two hands wrapped around her and started to grope her. startled, kieko swiftly turned around to face an angry rokka standing behind her,"you must be so jealous, being so flat!" she teased, kieko met eyes with her, did kieko's eyes deceive her? no she was certain of it, and because she's a wizard it's actually made sense. kieko remembered what she said in the classroom, she then looked at rocka,kieko could feel tears welling up in her eyes. she started to cry,she bowed her head,"sumimasen!" she forced rokka was very confused "i was very rude to earlier"kieko said. rokka looked at her. "i want to make amends" kieko stated. "never,NEVER did i once think i could be so cruel to a young girl as beautiful as you"she wept ,rokka gasped at this, how could this one pathetic human see what she was, when every other person she met was completely fooled? how did she know? rokka asked herself "how?" rokka said aloud. kieko stood up straight,"everyone has beauty, and everyone is defined differently, the eyes are the window to the soul,and when i look into your eyes i see beauty, but i see something else to... potential, you have so much, when there is so much of that in a child's eyes they sparkle in the most beautiful way that can only be defined as...youth, your eyes are very beautiful, they sparkle, and shine a youthful glow, that is how i know, because you are beautiful."kieko explained rokka hung her head low and held kieko shoulder,"you ... you think i am beautiful?" kieko gave a slight smile "i who has only been so rude and looked down on you?" rokka began to tremble,"why? " rokka was full on crying now,and slowly started to revert to normal, kieko stood steady as rokka balled pieces of kieko's shirt in her reached out and held rokka,*after about 10 minutes* rokka stopped crying,how in the world was a girl as young as her causing so much trouble?kieko then stood up, "i'm sorry for acting like a baby"rokka whispered. "lets go find your friend go shall we?"kieko asked the toddler, when kieko stood up she could hear muffled voices in the hallway,she couldn't quite make them out but she could hear several people calling out the same thing,almost as if they were trying to call for someone. "eeeekkchoo" it sounded like, she then suddenly realized who the voices belonged to. kieko made her way to the door, and before she could open it, it swung open revealing two boys wearing worried faces in front, while in back were two girls complaining about the boys being in the locker room. it was yumi,mika,zero and ichi. when the four met kieko's gaze they all jumped a bit, none of them expected kieko to be behind the door."where the hell were you!?" zero screamed. it was then that rokka looked up to see the love of her life "ICHI-SAMA!"she screamed as she jumped into ichi's arms, "if i'd of known you'd be here i would have freshened up"she teased,she then got down from his arms, she ran into the room and transformed into her 'older' self "don't i look stunning?"she flirted,suddenly Go turned up in the window again, but this time he was holding a plastic bear that looked like a cell phone cover,and it started to buzz "the crystal pearl is near, the crystal pearl is near" he then pointed it a kieko. "oh, i see ichi-sama, you only hang around this girl because she has the pearl, right?"rokka asked "no...i"ichi started, but he was interrupted by kieko"yes, if i didn't have the crystal pearl they probably wouldn't give me a second thought."kieko said plainly. zero and ichi looked upset at the words,but said nothing,ichi wanted to tell her that what she said wasn't true,but it was if she had not swallowed it they wouldn't even know eachother,she'd just be another face, ichi hated that, he hated the fact that was all she was to them, from now on he wanted to make an effort to be kieko's friend, ichi looked at her expression,he noticed that she didn't look the same as she usually does, right now she looked more like when they first met,or when she helped that little girl,ichi had no idea how or why but she just looked looked over at ichi,"you noticed it too?"mika asked quietly. "when younger kids are around,kieko changes her attitude,i don't think it's on purpose, but she tends to act more..."yumi wispered "motherly"mika finished.(the conversation was so quiet that only those three heard, anime logic!) the conversation stopped when rokka started to yell "if thats what it's gonna take to get you away from my ichi then i'll do it!, don't get to cozy kieko because the next time i see you your dead!"rokka then ran away with Go tagging along behind her.


	4. lunch, festival,tears? part 1

**ok this a different type of fanfiction than the ones i did before it's also the longest one so far so hangin there, this is not really going to follow the events of the episode, by the way it's supposed to be episode 7 also i'm going to introduce Nanase and Yakumo earlier in the series because i wanted to give them more character development and the easiest way to do that was for me to do that without adding millions of characters or taking away any was this, so bare with it you'll understand soon. oh, and please don't forget to tell me what you think ,it'll help me out in the future!**

for once kieko was the first one up for school, she felt weird, usually the boys were up making a ruckus by now,"i should enjoy it while i still can"she said to herself as she sipped on a fresh cup of green watched the little clouds of steam erupt from it, she loved fresh green tea it was ,since she was dressed and everything, she thought that she may as well start getting her lunch took a package of 'baby star ramen' and a box of 'hello pandas' and put them in her lunch box, why would she need to make it when this stuff was pre-made and twice as good?besides she was horrible at cooking and she knew it,Ran then jumped on to the counter and started to purr loudly, kieko scratched behind Ran's ear causing her to purr even louder, she loved the sound of cats purring, "could you go wake up the boys for me Ran?"kieko asked nicely, "kay" Ran answered. Ran stood up and sailed off the counter,she then trotted off to the boys' room. kieko looked out the old kitchen window "I love mornings everything is crisp and fresh,I just love it, so did …" her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash coming from the boys' room.

within seconds zero popped into the kitchen, still buckling his belt he rummaged through the cabinets,and grabbed a piece of bread. kieko stood completely still,why was he so frantic? why did he always have to be on time for class? she watched the scene with interest as zero rushed to make his lunch and get things together,ichi then walked in and poured a cup of the green tea kieko had made earlier, "how weird, i always thought that ichi would be the one who would freak out if they were late to class, but it was zero. why did he care so much? it's not like he was going to need a diploma from another world to pass the magic exam,or would he?"kieko pondered. "don't mind him kieko, he's just not used to sleeping in so late"ichi explained. "hey kieko, i have a question"zero said in a serious tone as he stuffed the bread into his mouth, he looked almost deep in thought kieko looked at him "hmm?" she responded not sure what to think,she'd never heard his voice so sincere even with the his face stuffed like it face grew sypathetic,then it washed over with a false anger,"WHY DID YOU WAKE US UP SO LATE?!" he yelled, "yep, that's more like the zero i know" she thought to herself. she gave no answer,"WELL?" zero asked. kieko remained silent (ok there is a point in time when someone is mad for something stupid, and you just want to make things worse to mess with them) zero hated it when she ignored him "hey pay attention to me when i talk to you!"he yelled,but kieko decided to toy with him a bit longer and still said gave a slight smirk as she slid her lunch box in to her school bag.

"ichi…"kieko said, ichi then turned to see kieko with a wondering look on her face "what is it kieko?" he asked nicely "what day is it?"she asked,"Wednesday"he replied, kieko looked out the window and gave a low sigh. she then turned back to the two boys, "I have to make a detour to school today" she said under her breath."WHAT!?" zero yelled "we're already going to be late to school today, now we have to take a detour?why!?"he asked impatiently " i promised hoshi's father that i would take her to school,it's been about a week since i last saw her so i jumped at the chance to do it without asking you, gomen"kieko explained,her expression softened. ichi then smiled "it's alright kieko, we don't mind" he said, zero looked at him confused, but instead of protesting he decided to go along with it. after a few minutes zero, ichi, and kieko were out the door and on there way to hoshi's house. to the boy's surprise they were there within a few minutes, hoshi was only a few streets down from kieko's house. hoshi's house was relatively large, much bigger than kieko's, it was a very traditional japanese home,paper walls and everything else that made it so minutes later, a young girl popped out of the house carrying a bag of candy and a school bag the girl ran to kieko's side as she lifted her of the ground and squeezed her tightly, kieko then let the girl down and gave her the sweetest smile she could manage.

ichi turned away momentarily,he couldn't help it,every time she smiled like that he blushed. "hey! aren't you the scary witches that fell from the sky?"hoshi asked uselessly. kieko giggled at this,seeing as how they were the furthest thing from scary,ichi was really sweet and zero was a lot nicer then he seemed."scary witches?"ichi echoed humorously,"who are you calling scary!?"zero yelled, hoshi ran behind kieko and clutched her leg, "that one is really hot headed,huh?" she whispered to kieko. zero's face washed over with shock "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOT HEADED!" he pouted."i mean you're scary!" hoshi yelled"WHY YOU!..." zero started as he reared up to start chasing her,but he was interrupted by kieko kneeling down and holding on to hoshi's shoulder "hoshi i think that was a bit rude,i think you should apologize" kieko said bluntly. zero put on a confused face and stared at her, why did she feel the need to make hoshi apologize it was obvious that it was just a joke. kieko stood up and directed hoshi to zero, "i'm sorry" she said pitifully. "you too zero"kieko informed, but her eyes were not on zero,they were on hoshi,whose face was laced with fear,hoshi had no idea who or what they were,all she knew was that they were really strong, and scary and she had made one angry"so she was upset, and kieko wanted to stop us from fighting before things got out of hand"zero thought to himself. ichi was amazed, kieko had immediately stopped the two from fighting, and without either one letting their emotions get the best of them, it was like a mother handling two fighting kids,"she'll make a great mom one day"ichi thought to himself, his face grew a light shade of pink. kieko took hoshi's hand and lead her down the walkway as the boys followed closely behind.

hoshi went to a large expensive looking school, it was covered in trees and had lots of flowers surrounding loved walking hoshi to school, in fact she loved being around hoshi in general, it was calming for her she had no idea three arrived at school they were greeted by a large group of girls,kieko hated crowds, "it feels like there judging my every move, constricting until there was no room left for mistakes"she thought to was surprised to see the girls all bow, she tilted her head slightly in confusion, "sumimasen!" they all said in unison, kieko looked over at the boys who looked just as confused, "last week we troubled you kieko, we would like to make up for it, will you have lunch with usto make up for it?" said the girl in front. kieko took a few seconds to gain her thoughts, she then bowed causing everyone to force a look of shock on there face, "no I should be sorry, i can't imagine the twins giving you anything less than hell for my own clumsy feet" kieko said apologetically. kieko didn't know what to say about lunch, she usually sat under a tree with zero, ichi, yumi and mika. she had no idea what the twins would do if they were eating with people they openly did not like. kieko stood up straight,she had to make them feel welcome or they might grow to hate her and she didn't want that, kieko gathered up all of her strength and put her best smile on,"i would love to have girls as sweet as you accompany me and my friends, for lunch"and to finish it off she smiled and used sparkle attack,it was super effective! (gotta love pokemon references!) half of the girls quietly swooned over her, while the other half stared at ichi's red face and zero's completely confused one.

before lunch the teacher asked to talk with kieko, so the boys had to go on without her to the spot. the teacher was very impressed with her improvement in class and offered her a spot as the new class rep, but she declined it, if she had accepted it she would have to stay for after school meetings, and make the boys wait. on her way outside kieko came across the post board and something caught her eye, it was a poster that was decorated with pictures of paper lanterns, a shine, and kimonos. the poster red; 'hanami festival!, join us as the local shrine and our beloved school collaborate to make the best festival of all time! the school will host a haunted house that will correspond with the regular shrine festival activities, that fall in the same days as hanami! and if you're still not convinced all proceeds raised at the haunted house will go to our school! please join us on saturday!'kieko stared at the poster as if it was gold, ever since the 'subway accident' kieko never went to another festival, not that she was avoiding it or anything, it's just that they were either too far away or she had to be somewhere else, but now there was no where to run, her schedule was clear, it was within reach, and most of all if she went she'd not only have fun but she'd be donating to her school, it was a win win. but she didn't know if she could handle that, the last time she went to a festival she lost so much, she couldn't afford to lose much more it would kill her. kieko snapped back to reality when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, it was zero he was standing at the edge of the hallway trying to catch his breath, he had been standing there a while was he watching kieko? kieko turned to meet his gaze, he must have been deep in thought because he took a few moments to realize that kieko was looking back at him. when he noticed he started running and grabbed her hand, he dragged her behind him,(like how you fly a kite) "hey what do you think you're doing!?" kieko yelled as he zoomed down the corridor, "big trouble! the twins are about to throw down!" zero replied in a loud voice "what!?" kieko yelled in shock, she then made a b line for the courtyard.

and a soon as she located the spot what zero said was was true, "stop lying to me! no way kieko would let a large crowed like you sit with us at lunch! she hates crowds!" yumi shouted, "well, believe it! she invited us this morning!"yelled a girl in the crowd, only half of the girls actually came though,"now yumi, mika they were invited by kieko" ichi tried to reason "yeah right! you're just covering for them because their in your fan club, you letch!" mika cried, all of the girls gasped and were about to give her a smack down but kieko stepped in between them, "EXPLAIN!" they all yelled simultaneously "mika, yumi,i did invite them, i wanted to get to know them, i'm sorry i didn't tell you about it earlier that was my fault, but you were very rude at least you could have heard them out before you treated them like that, and what you said to ichi was unacceptable" the twins looked like they were about to cry,suddenly they pounced on kieko hugging her begging for her forgiveness almost like children do, "i'm not the one you should be apologizing to" kieko said bluntly, *after the apologises* as everyone sat down to eat their lunch, yumi looked at kieko and asked "what are you holding, kieko?" kieko didn't realize it but she had grabbed the poster from the board, "huh? oh it's…"kieko stammered. "it's a poster for the shrine festival!"one of the girls yelled "so kieko do you plan to go?"asked one of the girls noseily. "well I…"she was then cut off by a horde of questions and comments "who are you going with?" "it's gotta be zero right?" "no shes definitely going with ichi" "i thought it was a three way relationship" "what kind of kimono are you going to wear?" "can i go with zero if your not?" "i'm going to look so fabulous!" "i heard the haunted house will have real ghost!" kieko never got a chance to answer any of the questions,but even still they continuously asked questions all through out lunch, even though it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to give an answer.

after lunch kieko thanked the girls for joining her (even though it was more trouble than it was worth), and she went to her next class keeping her eyes on the flyer. but before the boys could join her the mika and yumi stopped them"zero, ichi we need to talk to you" mika said as kieko walked away, "what is it?"ichi asked, "it's about the festival" yumi stated "hold on,... you're not falling for us are you?" zero teased "f*ck off, were talking about kieko" mika yelled defensively. "you remember the story we told you?"yumi asked calmly while looking at the ground. ichi nodded his head, "well… truth be told she hasn't been to a festival since then, she says that they just happen at the wrong time or to far away it's always something along those lines, but didn't you see the way she was hesitating? i think shes afraid to go"yumi trailed off "we want kieko to be able to face her fears without having a problem, as i'm sure you do as well. we know she can't do it alone… but we can't ask her to go she'll know what were doing and decline"mika said sadly "so if you would… could you... ask kieko to the festival? we think if someone who genuinely wanted to take her asked, she might agree,so if you would please … help kieko."yumi stammered "well, that's very noble of you girls to consider kieko like that, zero if you're up for it?"ichi stated "of course, we said that we'd protect her, i thought that helping her was implied"he replied. *after school on the walk home* ichi and zero eyed each other, as if talking it out how they were going to do it in their heads,kieko bowed her head during the walk home, she finally gathered up all her courage and began to speak "ichi,zero?" kieko asked hushedly, "hmm?"ichi replied "what?"replied zero, she clutched the flyer in her hand tightly, she then fidgeted it in her hand for a bit then looked them in the eye "do you guys… want to go to the festival?" kieko blurted out, her cheeks were flushed red,"kieko... of course we would"ichi stated with a smile "why wouldn't we?" zero asked sounding relieved probably because he had no idea how to do it himself, kieko turned away her face was hot and she knew if either of them saw she be even more embarrassed. "thanks" she answered under her breath

*Saturday evening* kieko and the boys sat at the dinner table drinking tea and watching T.V. "what shops do you want hit first?" zero asked casually "maybe a wind chime shop, they might have some with sutras and charms on them, that would bring some good energy into the house"kieko stated, "you seem to love this house kieko, routine cleaning,sutras, you take care of it very well"ichi stated. "of course i do, i grew up here. it's sheltered me and ran ever since we were little, it's all we got so the least i could do is take care of it"kieko said as she stared at the sleeping cat,suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Zero would you get that for me?" kieko asked "sure"he responded, as zreo opened the door he was greeted with the twins eagerly awaiting for someone to open it. yumi wore a pink kimono with purple flowers lacing the sides, and a dark purple ribbon across her waist. while mika wore a kimono with the exact opposite color scheme, but it was a very beautiful set of kimonos despite how plain they were. and they were holding a large cardboard box. "where's kieko?"yumi asked "in the kitchen why?" the girls rushed past him without saying a word, they pushed their way into the kitchen snatched kieko up and pulled her into her room and closed the door,"is a hello not necessary any more!?" kieko yelled as they plopped her on her bed, "sorry for the intrusion, but we need to see what you're wearing to the festival" yumi stated "your looking at it"kieko replied "oh no, mika you were right" yumi said mika then pulled out a long cloth from the box, the boys stood outside the door confused at what had just happened. out side the door they could hear the girls muffled voices; "hey what are you doing with that?" "relax it'll help you with your figure" "who said i wanted help with my figure?" "what if you see that girl rokka? don't you want to show her up?" "no not really" "well, too bad!" "hey, stop that! it tickles! ha ha ha" "sit still will you!" "you're still to flat, how about we tighten that?" "hey wait...oof i now know what road kill feels like" "maybe if we put that here" "hey watch where you touching!" "oh, come on were all girls here!" "i still like personal space!" ichi looked over at zero "close your mouth" he whispered warningly "well, you're almost done" "all you need to do is hold this... now you are the perfect traditional Japanese girl" and with that kieko's door swung open, revealing a more than satisfied looking mika and yumi. but as they moved out of the way kieko moved behind the door to avoid anyone from seeing her, the kimono they picked out was embarrassing it was too tight and a bit girly for her taste, but the girls assured her she looked had to take their word for it though and she stepped out of her room.

she WAS beautiful, she wore a black kimono with light pink cherry blossom flowers falling across the dress making it perfect for hanami, they were accompanied by several smaller white flowers that made the kimono almost look like one from a fairy tale, and around her waist was a beautiful red ribbon that tied in to a bow at her back. in her hand was a matching fan that was laced at the end (here's an idea of what it looked like-  albums/ww99/heartfreak33/Anime%20Girl/black_kimono_  ) the boys stared at her,"wow kieko you look really nice!" zura stated .zero smirked like he had just heard a funny joke "what the hell are you wearing?"he teased, the twins glared at him resembling angry dogs, zero backed off immediately."well i think you look beautiful" ich complemented, kieko blushed "thanks"she said sheepishly. suddenly ichi's phone rang, ichi pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open, as he read the caller ID a light smile sprawled across his face, "it's sarasa"he told zero,"no way we haven't talked to her in like forever" zero replied. kieko couldn't help but wonder who sarasa was, but she didn't want to pry, so instead of listening in on their conversation kieko decided to start one of her own. kieko turned to the girls and smiled "you're mother really did out do herself with this"kieko stated "she and mika spent all night on it"yumi informed "wow mika, the stiching on this is wonderful" kieko said sweetly, mika hugged kieko awkwardly with one of her arms crossing from kieko's right shoulder to her left under arm, and the other arm sucreing kiekos right arm to the side while her left arm stuck up in the air "you're so cute in that thing!"mika cried "air!" kieko pleaded. mika took a step back "well, mom and i can't take all the credit, yumi has been working on this design since they first announced the festival at the student council meeting." mika said "wow i don't know how you did this it's beautiful"kieko praised,Ran walked into the hallway and stretched, she looked at kieko then at the girls, "i see you three are all dressed up, you look lovely did you mother design them?" Ran asked. "actually ran, yumi designed them and mom and i made them" mika said softly. yumi bent down and petted the cat behind the ear, the action made Ran purr loudly. "well you two are becoming the sic freed and roy of the fashion industry aren't you?"ran said lovingly.

the boys finished their phone call, "so you guys are like dressmakers or somthing" zero blurted out "well, not really just act as apprentices for our mom, she makes a lot of traditional Japanese clothing and adds a modern twist to it, but she has only so many ideas so we help her out by designing some of the dresses and helping stitch them together" yumi informed "wow that's amazing" ichi said. "mom's gonna put a stand up at the festival" mika added. Ran looked out the window, it was nearly sun down, she slowly directed her head back to the group of chattering teens. "its almost time, you ought to get going before the shops get crowded" Ran smirked, "thank you very much" the girls said in unison as they bowed. on the way to the festival zero noticed something; kieko was walking weirdly, he didn't know how to describe it but it seemed like she was reluctant to go, even now that everyone was here to help her out, zero sighed to himself "kieko sure knows how to make a guy worry"he thought to himself. when the five of them reached the area where the festival was being held all eyes were glued to the beautiful decorations all around the shrine and school, lanterns flickered along the sides of the shops, the shrine was light up with festive candles, and the trees were blossoming. zero looked back at kieko to see if she was alright, he was still worried about her, but when he turned his head to see her he did not expect to see what he saw,kieko's face was illuminated by the lanterns dim light,her eyes were sparkling almost like the stars themselves, and she wore an amazed smile that was full of wonder, slowly but surely a light tint of red started to cover zero's then took the palm of his hand and pressed it to the back of his neck, he then let out an audible sigh "i'm guessing subtle wasn't part of the plan her was it?" he joked but hardly anyone was paying attention, they were too captivated by the breathtaking scenery.

only seconds later son and forte appeared from the crowd, "son ,forte?"kieko gasped the boys took a defensive stance the boys were ready to fight, kieko was genuinely worried, if there was a magic fight here lots of people might get hurt in the crossfire, and dressed the way she was, she wouldn't be able to run and lead them away from the area,kieko was terrified, what would she do? "hey look frote it's kieko!" son screamed "we won't let you touch her!"zero cried "calm down zero, son just really wanted to check out the cake shops" forte said a wave of relief hit kieko, the twins looked at them as if they did something wrong, "mika yumi?" kieko whispered to twins then walked up to them there arura became extremely dark, "so you are son and forte"mika whispered "you are the ones who made kieko fall from the car, and the building?"yumi asked "yeah, why?"son replied cheerfully "son i think we should go"forte said nervously "but why fo?" the girls were now growling, "son just trust me on this" he said with his voice wavering. "ok fo" she then started to wave good bye, "bye every one!" she screamed as forte dragged her away from the guard dog like girls. "mika, yumi let's make this a trip without incident"kieko said with her banges covering her eyes zer looked over at kieko and gave a look of concern, "what do you want to…"ichi was suddenly cut off by a tall pink haired girl jumping in to his arms "ichi my love!"the girl squeaked, everyone turned their heads to see rokka squeezing the life out of ichi, soon Go appeared from behind rokka "lady rokka, your father would not appreciate your association with this filth" Go informed, everyone was confused was he referring to all of them or just ichi? even so that was a bit hated what he said but forced herself to ignore it, kieko scanned the area then spotted something. the girls were about to start yelling at Go but they stopped when they heard the sound of foot steps, they turned to see that it was kieko, she was walking away, and towards the shrine. the girls stopped and stared at kieko, she was very traditional, she was raised to be so, but even knowing so they did not expect to see her to do this.

kieko tossed a coin in the offering box, rang the bell,knelt down,and started to pray. mika and yumi walked over to her and did the same, "let's pray together!"yumi stated kieko looked up from her prayer,and she gave the warmest smile she could give "thank you" she said. you have no idea how much this means to me, this was a tradition my mom and i had,mom called it purification of the soul she was all about this kind of stuff y'know? it was funny dad wasn't as in to it as us but he always did his best, it was really funny when he kept messing up the words"kieko said happily, tears started welling up in her eyes she didn't know if it was because she was so happy to have friends like those or if she was a little bit upset from the memories but she didn't care, she was too happy to care. mika's heart was so touched by this that she just couldn't take it "kieko…(enter girly squeal here) WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CUTE?!"she screamed, she then picked her up like how a toddler would a puppy, and spun her around yelling about how cute she was. yumi starred and tried to act mature but to no avail, she joined in the hugging and squealing and spinning. kieko handled it well she had a slight blushed faceand let them do what they wanted, she looked back at the shrine and starred suddenly she remember something "gomen, but i didn't finish the prayer" she said. zero starred as well he never thought kieko was the type of girl that would be so nonchalant about the girls treating her like that, she was so mature when she acted, it was nice to see she had a playful side. zeros face got a bright red what was he thinking? "it was nice to see she had a playful side"!? what was that supposed to mean? he asked himself as if he had an answer. he gave a huff of breath, ... at least she was having fun, he would feel terrible if she wasn't. he watched as the girls smiled and hugged her even more and eventually let her go to continue the prayer.a thought came to mind, if she was so happy when they prayed would she be even happier if one more person did? would she like it if he prayed? he decided to give it a shot. he walked over to the shrine, what would he pray for? he wondered, he was curious to know what kieko praying for?

she still didn't notice him standing next to her. as zero watched the girls pray he noticed something about kieko, it was one of those childish things that were cute no matter who did them instead of a normal prayer that was usually kept to oneself, kieko mumbled her prayer aloud, she said them with such a soft spoken voice that he couldn't make out the words but he knew whatever it was, it was something with alot of meaning. zero knew what he was going to pray for,he knelt down and bowed his head. kieko looked up in surprise, it was one thing for mika and yumi to pray with her but it was a completely different thing for zero a guy who she had met only a month ago to start praying, why? she had no idea, but it was one of the nicest gestures someone could have done for smiled and continued her payer, the others were done way before kieko, but she had so much to say so much time to make up she finally finished she looked up from her prayer and stared at the shrine,"thank you"she said as if it was some type of code word the lights grew brighter, and they people around her grew happier. her group of friends looked around in a frantic "wow that was so perfectly timed you'd think kieko did it"mika said "it was like a cue in a movie"rokka added the other stood there staring in amazement, kiko stood up and turned around "wow it got really pretty all of a sudden"she said with a warm smile, ichi blushed rokka saw this and glared at awkward silence was broken by the sound of rumbling earth, "it's an earthquake, protect me ichi-sama!" rokka yelled. "so familiar…"kieko said in a soft spoken voice as she looked off into the and yumi gasped and lunged at kieko as if to keep her from floating away, "what?"kieko asked as she squinted off to the side, everyone except her and the twins were laying down covering their heads. but kieko didn't even look, whatever she was looking at she must find it much more important than her well being ichi thought. "kieko get down it's an earthquake!"zero yelled kieko payed no mind to him,she instead raked her mind for the answer as to why this was so familiar. "for once listen to me!"zero yelled kieko turned her attention to him, "i remember" kieko whispered, not even seconds later kieko and the girls were engulfed in a large swirl of dust, and it was so thick that she could not be seen. zero tried to reach his hand out to her but he grabbed at nothing,the second the dust cleared ichi and zero jumped to their feet because kieko yumi and mika were no longer standing there.

to be continued in part 2


	5. lunch, festival,tears? part 2

**BATMAN3!:) **

zero tried to reach his hand out to her but he grabbed at nothing,the second the dust cleared ichi and zero jumped to their feet because kieko yumi and mika were no longer standing there, both of there eyes widened "where did she go?"ichi yelled "who cares?" rokka asked nonchalantly. ichi glared at her the boys frantically searched, how weird there was no crack on the floor zero thought. son and forte walked by again "oh is this a game i love games, what are we looking for?" son screamed "we can't find kieko!"ichi and zero yelled at once, "then i win because i already found her!" son yelled with joy. the boy stared at son "where is she!?"zero yelled (batman reference) "we just saw her at the kimono stand"forte group rushed over to the stand only to find all three of the girls standing in the center facing a woman about looked like she just got of collage but judging by her voice was about 30 years old(kind of like 'special A'). kieko was scolding the woman as she and the twins cuddled her; "you could of at least let me tell my friends, instead of running at me like that" kieko said(ok i know that sounds kind of weird but almost all animes have at least one character who runs like that, at least once) "awww...but that would have been no fun, besides this way we have you all to ourselves, isn't that right girls?"the woman said. the twins nodded in agreement and continued to cuddle kieko. "kieko!"the boys said in unison, kieko shifted her eyes in the direction of them and said "gomen, mika and yumi's mom wanted to speak to me but she was in such a hurry i didn't get to say anything"kieko apologised, the woman stood up and faced the boys,"sumimasen, i just had to see yumi's design and mika's stitch work on kieko, but i think you can agree kieko looks adorable in it!" she said,"so you're the twin's' mother?"ichi asked. "yep!"she said with a smile, a few moments later the whole group was haveing a nice conversation with each other inside the booth,kieko still stood next to the twins and was still talking to there mom, whom had introduced her self as the twins stood one at each side of kieko,yumi looked over to a group of guys,two guys were smileing smugly and gestering to kieko, she didn't like they started talking louder and more adible. she glared at them she could hear their disgusting conversation. "what would you do to the one in the black kimono?" one of the boys asked. she absolutely hated anyone who was cursed to talk with such a lack of common decency."you mean the one with the flowers on it?"another boy asked. yumi snapped her attention to keiko's kimono,it was black, and had flowers on it, were those sickos talking about kieko? sweet, innocent, introverted kieko? "how disgusting" she thought,"how dare they" she thought,yumi knew she couldn't make a scene though, she was afraid she might make kieko upset, that was the last thing she wanted. but she couldn't help the hatred in her eyes from showing, no matter how she put it she hated them for saying stuff like tried to mask her hateful eyes as she turned to kieko, "mika and i are going to go look around while you're talking with mom okay?"yumi forced,making herself sound rather bland as she said it, kieko looked over to her side and gave yumi her consent with a light grabbed mika's unsuspecting hand and pulled her from the scene. zero looked over at them what were they doing? they almost never left kieko's side unless they had to.

he couldn't help but stare, letting curiosity get the best of him zero spoke up "i'll go with them"he said, ichi looked over at him while rokka hung on to him like a leach,"i'll go too" he said, "no i think you should stay here keep kieko out of trouble" zero said in a voice that seemed a bit too serious. "sure" ichi said, as zero caught up with the girl he made a slight attempt to hear what they were talking about before running up to join them;"you heared them to, mika. i know you did, but i for one can't stand here and let them continue, and i know you won't either"yumi stated. mika scowled at the ground " *uck them and there stupid perverted attitudes ,what are we going to do? talking about kieko the way they were, what can we do?"mika asked roughly, yumi looked her sister in the eye "we'll just have to find out the hard way"yumi replied lightly,trying to make a joke but sounding to 's eyes widened, why didn't they tell him?he'd help in a heartbeat,zero ran up to them"why didn't you tell me!"he yelled with frustration, "because it's not your problem" yumi said bitterly. " it is if it has to do with kieko, i told you that i would protect her" he snapped, "don't talk like you're some kind of hero, let's be honest here, you're not taking care of kieko, you are taking care of the crystal pearl. to you she's nothing more than a capsule that provided you with a place to live" mikai barked zero grew pale,but as much as the words stung him he still stood there, "i said i'll protect _kieko_" he said under his breath,the three remained silent, yumi looked over her shoulder to see of all people, andrew he was standing next to the two guys that were talking so rudely about kieko, he was talking to them. "you know talking about girls like that will only make them hate you"andrew said smugly "yeah what have you got to show for it?"one of the boys said promptly. "how about this, who ever can get the most goldfish out of the fish game (i don't know what it's called) geets to take her on a date through the haunted house" andrew said promptly mika and yumi immediately made there way over to the booth were the three boys stood with zero tagging along not far behind. "let us join,"the two said in unison "me aswell"zero said not far behind them.*ten minutes later* "I win"andrew smiled lightly, "how did I end up with the least?" zero pouted."well at least mka got second, i only got one more then you"yumi said plainly,"well we don't need to worry about kieko any more those perverted losers ran with their tails between their legs"mika stated put his hands in his pockets and smirked."wow we really wouldn't of done it if, andrew hadn't said that"zero thought to himself. but before zero could even consider thanking him, kieko and the others had made their way to them "oh, hey i see you met up with andrew" kieko said obliviously."i believe it's time for me to claim my prize" andrew said smugly, he then grabbed one of kieko's hands and pulled it so that she came towards him. before she could react he locked his arms together behind her back, he then pressed his lips on to her cheek, he then whispered in to her ear, "will you accompany me to the haunted house?"he asked in a seductive gasped for air as her face grew a dark shade of red,she pulled her hands close to her chest then pushed him away with all her might. as she pushed she lost her balance and fell to the floor, her face was pure disbelief, was this happening? like really happening? she couldn't tell, but she couldn't control her words either. "get off of me" she heard herself say, "you're a lying scumbag"she spat. kieko couldn't control her mouth, it was like a dream, or a scene from one of those overly dramatic T.V. shows. she was so confused with her feelings that she felt helpless in her own body,just watching her self take over unconsciously, then she remembered hoshi and how many time she had let her near him, "that pathetic pervert"she thought "how dare he come near my friends how dare he come near my FAMILY?" she thought

randomly the memory of first time she talked to him took over her thoughts**.**_[__**flash back**__] it was three years ago,, she had only just agreed to become friends with the twins the year before, her mind was still cluttered with the memory of pure fear. she remembered all off the details from that day, everything from the food she had eaten for lunch,a tuna sandwich, to the exact seat she sat in, second row to the left by the window, she remembered because tuna was her favorite type of sandwich, and the seat she sat in was by the window, she loved being able to look out at the trees and forget everything from where she was to the accident that took her world by storm. it was after school and she was staring at the outside world, pondering to herself if she could wait out the 3 o'clock she knew in the back of her head the beating was inevitable, she heard distant footsteps but paid them no mind. suddenly a voice interrupted her thoughts, but it wasn't the usual voice of the teacher telling her to go home it was a new voice, a voice her age. it took her awhile to decipher the words that came from the voice. "lonely?" it asked,it took her an longer while to relize that the conversation was directed to she turned her head to see the person dareing enough to talk to her she felt a phase of discompert cross her mind because she had just placed the voice to it's name and face. andrew rushing, a foreign exchange student who had come from america, whose intentions were never his studies. he was the smooth talking, womanizing flirt of class B-3. she hated guys like him, she despised them in fact. she just stared at him blankly, caught in thought but clearly not paying any attention the the event taking place. "i said are you lonely" andrew repeated. the repetition of the words brought her back. "what? you think i would rather talk to you? if you weren't related you'd hit on your sister" kieko snapped, kieko remembered how she let anything that came to mind slip from her mouth without any thought "snappy aren't we?but sadly enough i don't have a sister" he teased "i don't need your company"she said under her breath "relax i'm not gonna try anything on you" he chuckled. kieko forced herself to stand up she lightly quivered as she grabbed her books because she knew after she did this she would rush the fate of pain, "i'm going home now, go away" she slowly made her way to the door "they scare you don't they?" she immediately stopped in her tracks, but she said nothing. "those bullies downstairs? yeah...i know about them. so does the whole school,it's become some what of a game really.'who can hurt kieko the most?'you just let them do that to you?" he asked kieko clenched her fist "it's not like i have a choice"she quickly replied "let me help you...i'll keep you safe from them"he said "at what cost? i get to be added to your little whore collection?"kieko said accusingly "no, i told you before i promise to treat you better then them. i only want to be considered a friend" several minutes later kieko emerged from the building."thats good we were starting to worry you were a no show" one of the usual bullies said, she grasped her own hands to keep from flinching, suddenly the door behind her opened, it was walked up to her side, the two walked down the path way. the bullies avoided kieko after that,why? she had no idea but she never questioned that. but she held no to his promise; that she was different, that she was better and he wouldn't do something like that, and she believed him. the twins did not approve of her friendship with him, but she was too blinded by the words to see what was happening. he… was…lying.. to ..her.[__**end of flashback**__] _

"that bastard …

that g*d damned lying bastard.." kieko thought to herself. kieko got to her feet and didn't even give him the satisfaction of looking her in the eye."oh, com'on kieko you know i was kidding"he said trying to defend himself "you lied...and i fell for it. thats all there is to this story" she said "how does this story end then?"he asked kieko looked down "with the mistake of calling you my friend, thats where it ends"she finished, she then started to walk away"'you're scared aren't you? with out me you'll just have to live the way you did… in fear" he called out. kieko stopped in her tracks he was right. the only thing that stood between the life she was living and the life she had now, was that he made the bullies go away, she didn't have to live in fear after that day. she stayed completely still, what would she say? what would she do?."what the hell is she doing?"zero asked himself"she should be telling him off by now, but she's just standing there"he thought. kieko looked like she was about to say something but she was cut off "no shes not scared, we won't let her be" mika said zero glanced over to them, thats right he had promised that as well. "we won't let anything bad happen to her, so whatever it is that she's scared of she won't have to be any more" zero followed with."thank you"kieko said under her breath the group then walked away. "what would your parents say? kieko!?" he yelled, she ignored him, she didn't need him,she didn't want him or his lies. *about twenty minutes later* zero was concerned he had no idea what had just happened, why was she scared? what did he lie about? would she be okay? his eyes softened as he watched her lightly hold the wind smiles… thats all he saw and he hated it. but he had to forget about it he had no choice,upsetting her now was not something he could bring himself to do right whatever it was he knew for sure if he saw him talking to her again, he'd let him have decided to keep his mind off it, worrying would not do any watched her smile at the green wind chime that read hope, love and smiles. kieko loved this small wind chime, the light baby green was illuminated by the lantern lights from above. kieko alway loved that word;hope, she never understood why, maybe it was the way it sounded? maybe it was the meaning behind it, she had no idea but either way she bought it and she loved it. not very long afterwards rokka fell asleep and go took her let the girls drag her to almost every stand there was, kieko didn't mind too much but she was starting to get hungry. "hey kieko its a cotton candy stand, want any?" asked one of the girls suddenly. "sure i guess" she stated "wait i thought you hated sweets" ichi said. "well, for the most part, but i guess this is the exception"she replied.

the four found a place to sit under a few cherry blossom trees, after all thats what hanami was basicly about. as the six sat and ate zero couldn't help but feel curious and eventually lost the battle between him and his questions, he then asked "kieko...andrew said what would your parents say what did he mean by that?" the whole group looked at him as if he set up a bomb. "i don't know to be honest… my parent were gone way before i met him"she replied without looking at him. "where are are your parents?" he asked obviously, the group let there face fall into shock, not even ichi expected zero to ask such an insensitive question but still, he was curious as tensed up, "well… they're gone, but i see them as much as i can when i get the chance." she answered. the twins stared at her silently in response she took a bite of the cotton candy. zero and ichi let their bodies relax,"so there not dead? thats a relief...i guess, but then where are they? and why don't they live with kieko?"ichi asked the teens finished their food they headed to the school, the haunted house line wa a lot shorter than how it wa from before when they first got there. when the four finally got to the front of the line the usher who was a kid from their class, he st right in front of zero in fact."im sorry but to go in you need a least six people" he said kieko slightly tilted her head to the side "why are you packing so many people in at once?" she asked "well we have to get as many people in before the festival ends in about twenty minutes" he replied "IS THERE A GROUP OF TWO IN THE LINE?" he yelled to the crowd behind them "hey fo chan that's us!" said a voice from the sea of people. almost instantly son a forte popped up in the front."oh, hi again! this is just uncanny now!" son said loudly, forte eyed the twins, mika looked at him then at kieko she then sighed "we won't bite" she said sounding annoyed. as the six entered the building zero couldn't help but notice that he was feeling rather irritated for no real reason. as they slowly walked through the maze of decorations, kieko notice her self feeling uneasy but she just brushed it aside she was in a haunted house after all.

zero's anger was building up, and he just couldn't take it any more, as soon as the path lead them into a classroom he lost it"what the hell is wrong with you kieko!?" he yelled "what?" kieko asked confusedly the group then turned to him. "why do you have to be so defenceless? why do we have to take the rat for you all the time?!he screamed "it's not like i asked you to" she replied sharply. "thats not an excuse! me and ichi take care of you 24/7 and all you do is sit on your ass all day maybe talking to us once every what? half a day? not even thanking us! i might add!" he screamed."you are such a JERK!"yelled kieko "i don't need to take this crap!"zero yelled "calm down"Ichii begged "you know what Ichii? NO!i am sick and tired of dealing with this stupid girl, WHAT HAS SHE EVER DONE FOR US ICHII? HUH? WHAT?!"zero said "zero stop this now you've gone too far"yelled yumi"leave her alone YOU ASS!"screamed mika "and another thing all of you,EVERY SINGLE ONE YOU! always take her side,EVEN WHEN SHES DEAD WRONG!"zero cried every body in the room went quiet "how can you be so cruel?"kieko asked bitterly "how can you be so freaking annoying! god no wonder you parents left you!"zero taunted, kieko couldn't even look him in the eye,how could he say something like that?she trembled with anger, why did he say that of any thing that was the worst thing he could have said, "why?Why!?WHY!? why did he chose my parents of all people to insult?"she walked up to him without saying a word,she still avoided his eye contact by hiding behind her bangs"are you ready to apologize?" zero asked arrogantly kieko still said nothing, "ANSWER ME!"yelled zero kieko finally made her way over to him still staring at the ground kieko stood still "don't you dare act like you knew them,you have no right to talk about my parents like that or in any other way, i don't care what you say to me… but you better leave them out of this!"kieko said in the most bitter anger filled voice she looked ever so slightly up at him her banges covered most of her face only leading zeros gaze fall on one eye,one eye thats all that it took,when zero looked in to that one eye he realized all that he had just done, everything he had just said,it was killing kieko on the inside,zero reached out for her slowly, hoping that by some miracle she'd forgive him,no he didnt even need that all he needed was to apologize "kie..."he started but was was interrupted by kieko's hand making harsh contact with his face, he had been hit by kieko several times before but never,never has it hurt so much,he could feel every ounce of hatred behind that slap, it stung,kieko put all her force in that,and surely zero was hurt "it wasn't my fault, i couldn't do anything to stop them from leaving me,no one could"she thought to herself,tears started to stream down her face,zero was so stunned by his actions the fact that he was so angry he let himself hurt kieko what had gotten into him?keiko was so upset she ran out of the room,but she kept running after that,she ran and ran through the otherwise empty hall way,lightly crying to herself,the tears slowly blurred her vision,but that didn't stop her. kieko made her way to the stairs,only to be stopped by the sound of cloth ripping, it was her sleeve that was caught on the railing, but she didn't care. she quickly unhooked it and bolted out the back doors,as soon as she got out she collapsed to the ground, she let the tears flow down her face. she quickly sat up and shoved her headphones in her ears,she then turned the volume up, she then leaned her back against the wall and hoped that no one would find her.

"what the hell is f*cking wrong with you zero?!" mika yelled "her parents are dead you idiot!"yumi cried,zero tensed up "but she said they were still alive!" he yelled back "NO! she said that they're gone, but she sees them as much as she can when she gets the chance"yumi yelled "and that implieds they are still alive!"zero screamed back at them "thats not true, it means she visits there grave often. and i would understand if she said something that made them sound alive, it's probably because it's too hard to accept the fact that there dead, maybe to her pretending that they're still out there keeps her feeling sane, maybe she's scared to admit it, to say there dead. because that would mean she'll never see them again, and that they no longer exist, that really is scary" son said calmly,forte looked at her with concern. zero's eyes widened, " DAMN IT!" he yelled. "we need to go find her" ichi said. the two bolted out of the room, but didn't get far before they bumped in to two people hiding under sheets in the hall. as all four fell to the floor the sheets fell from the two, as zero and ichi looked in front of them to see there lifelong rivals, Nanase and Yakumo. "what are you guys doing here?"ichi said angrily, "what are we doing here? what are you doing here ichi!?" yakumo echoed. "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" zero yelled in frustration nanase put on a face that let everyone know that he was thinking, "wait a minute if zero and ichi are here that means the crystal pearl is too!, yakumo your tracker wasn't broken after all!"he shouted "ha! i told you nanase! this baby has been in the family for generations!" yakumo replied. "it doesn't look like the gem was swallowed so it must be some wear in the school!" nanase said eagerly. "thats right, if yakumo and nanase found out who knows what they'll do to kieko!" ichi thought to himself. "enough talk!i'm ready to settle the score ichi!so come on lets go" yakumo teased "well,if you insist!"ichi then turned to zero "are you ready to fight?"he asked "aw yeah im always ready!" zero told him. zero jumped to his feet and used his destruction magic to throw a fireball piston at nanase, but thinking quickly nanase used his curse card magic to slow down time, and as the fireballs came close to him he pretended to do the matix thing where the bullets fly over the guys head in slow then yakumo came running down the hall, "here i come ichi!" he yelled he through his weapon/fan at him but ichi used his barrier to deflect it, making it explode right back in there face, all of the dirt and dust immediately kicked up causing a smokescreen to cover the entire area.

as kieko sat at the wall and listened to her music, she contemplated her life, her shi*tty excuse for a life. she thought about her mom and her dad, she thought about the kids who wanted her dead, she also thought about how scared she was, the thing that she was most afraid of wasn't any demonic creature,it wasn't the dark or spiders or even loud noises, no it was something far more terrifying… her best friends. kieko was afraid of her best friends, she was afraid of the people who took care of her when she needed it, she was afraid of them, those few people who had the kindest hearts. she was afraid because she knew if they turned on her she would die inside, she would have nothing left and she would die, zero was her friend,at least she thought. she wondered if the twins would hate her too,she already lost two of her friends today, she saw no reason that they wouldn't go to,she was so afraid. suddenly the door next to her burst open with a loud thud. she wanted to look but she just couldn't bring herself to do so, so she just continued to cry and gasp for air she had no concern for whoever bust from those doors, none whatsoever. she then felt a hand on her shoulder shake her slightly, she half expected it to be zero, coming to apologise, but when she lifted her head she met eyes with an unfamiliar face, it was yakumo's. she slowly took her ear buds out because she saw his lips moving but all she heard was september by daughtry,and she doubted that he was singing that. "why are you crying?" the boy asked "i...i...i'm scared" she forced. "of what? that haunted house? that thing was a joke" said a boy with purple hair. "whats your name?" the boy asked "kieko" she replied "well kieko you're a major cutie if i do say so myself!" the boy said playfully"well,i'm nanase and that perv there is yakumo,why don't you tell us what happened"said nanase "i have these friends who said they'd protect me,but i ...i just don't know what went wrong. maybe i was rude,or maybe i was selfish… but he just blew up, then i over reacted and hit him, now i know he hates me,i didn't mean to do that but i just couldn't help it,now i'm scared that everyone will leave me, i just can't bare to look at them though, i'm afraid for them to say it,that they're leaving me"kieko said with tears in her eyes. nanase looked at her in confusion "well, i honestly doubts that anyone would be mad enough to convince the rest of your friends to leave you,and just by talking to you i can tell you only do what you find necessary, and if they do leave you then…"nanase was cut off by yakumo yelling "you can be our friend! we'll protect you!" "like hell she will"said a familiar voice

"zero?" kieko said in a slightly awkward voice, "don't listen to a word they're saying, they'll do anything to get the crystal pearl!" replied zero as he jumped from the second story window, kieko got these deer in headlight eyes, were they lying? so zero did hate her? and all of her friends would leave her? her eyes teared up, "ok we get the whole rivalry between us and all but when you take it to a level as to tell some random girl that we were lying to her when we said that she'll be ok after her friend was so rude to her, you've taken it a bit far"nanase said. zero's eyes widened he turned his heat to kieko "kieko about what happened back there i...i'm..."he started "that was you zero!? wow i knew you were a jerk but i never thought you'd make a girl cry over nothing" yakumo barked, ichi glared at him "this has nothing to do with you" ichi replied kieko stared for several moments, a loud buzzing sound relatively close to her went off, "_the crystal pearl is near, the crystal pearl is near_" it chimed in a familiar robotic swiftly turned her head to the direction of the sound,it was coming from yakumo's back pocket, he slowly pulled it out, making sure not to make a frighteningly fast movements, as it reached the side of his belt he slowly pointed it towards kieko, the beeping got faster. "so you're the girl who swallowed the crystal pearl" he said calmly "i thought that was just a rumour"said nanase. "very well,kieko how about you stay with us instead of these jerks? i promise we won't yell at you"yakumo said in a coaxing voice ichi's eyes grew almost angry but still not quite at that stage yet, he then stood up from his defencive position."fine then, if kieko wants to go with you we won't stop her"ichi said, zero looked at him. and within seconds the four boys were on either side of her standing there, staring, watching her every move. millions of thoughts buzzed in her mind, it was starting to hurt the echos of evry idea and posibility pounding against her skull, screaming for her attention. she couldn't handle that, he rvision strated to blur, "no"she told her self "not this time, i will stand past my frears, they will not take control i will."she thought she ceared her head, she took a deep breath, she gingerly put her earbuds in her ear, she turned the music up as loud as it would go, she started waliking, btu not twards any of the gys, twords the front of the building. "kieko, where are you going?" cried a distressed stopped in her tracks and took out one of her buds,she swiftly flipped her head to the side to look at him, "i'm going home, you coming?" she said in a matter of fact voice. zeros eyes lit up "you forgive me?" he asked "i remember hitting _you_, i should be asking for your forgiveness" she said in a melancholy voice "i'm sorry"he replied "you can't start a new chapter if you keep rereading the last, lets not dwell"she said softly.


End file.
